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Unfinished condo project on Goodbys Creek sells

The Cove at St. Johns on Goodbys Creek, 2012 file photo.

The half-finished, long-abandoned condominiums on Goodbys Creek have been sold to a developer who intends to finish them. Prospect Property Group of Orlando paid $2.5 million for the Cove at St. Johns property at the intersection of Baymeadows Road and San Jose Boulevard, said Brian Moulder who brokered the deal for CBRE, a commercial real estate services firm.

Prospect Property Group has not yet returned the Times-Union’s phone calls, but Moulder said his understanding is that the company intends to complete the condominiums.

It should have construction crews there within 60 days, he said.

“There’s nothing structurally wrong with it,” Moulder said. “But the problem is the cost to complete it. That’s what’s been tough for people to quantify, but it will be tens of millions.”

The original project was to have 76 units.

Construction on the condominium project began in 2005 with completion expected in two years. But its original contractor, Auchter Co., went out of business. Then Silverton Bank, which held the primary note on the project, failed.

That put the property in the hands of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and the property sat unfinished and unchanging.

Moulder said there had been a few contracts on the property over the past few years, but each one fizzled.

“Several banks had to be worked out, a lot of players had to be consolidated,” he said. “But we had plenty of interest. It just took a lot of time.”

Moulder said he had put the property out for one final offering recently and it drew several interested buyers who were bidding for it.

“It got highly competitive at the end,” he said.

“The good thing about this deal,” Moulder said, “is that it’s ready to go. It’s already entitled for boat slips.”

He said he thought the condominium market has been improving lately, with new projects planned here and there around town.

Prospect Property Group intends to upgrade the originally planned amenities, he said.

“With Old San Jose on the River taking off like it has, that’s what they’re going to mirror.”